Anyone who has searched for a soul mate should be able to relate to the deeper themes in
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, one of the oddest, most authentic rock musicals of the past
generation.

The snazzy Short North Stage production — which opened on Friday at the Garden Theater — doesn’t
skirt the wilder dimensions of the offbeat fable about love, betrayal, rage, regret and
yearning.

As the East German transgender title character explains in the extended rock-concert-style
monologue that shapes the 1998 off-Broadway hit by John Cameron Mitchell, Hedwig’s sex-change
operation went painfully wrong.

But there is nothing botched about the sly and exuberant Columbus production, which showcases
two top-notch talents direct from a sold-out run at the American Repertory Theater’s second stage
in Cambridge, Mass.

Backed by a punk-rocking onstage band that brings out the feisty best of
Wicked Little Town,
The Origin of Love and other catchy songs, JJ Parkey and Ruthie Stephens wowed the crowd
at Thursday’s preview.

Parkey, reprising his role from Cambridge, shifts like a chameleon from girlie to gutsy, from
wistful to whimsical and from romantic to raunchy or regretful as Hedwig.

Yet, amid all his flamboyant rants and impudent audience interactions, Parkey grounds his
androgynous Hedwig in a woundedness that makes the audience care.

Stephens — also returning from Cambridge — plays Yitzhak, a sullen, bearded drag-king band
member enmeshed in a love-hate relationship with Hedwig. Their rivalry energizes the show.

Stephens’ singing is amazing. When she joins Parkey in duets on
The Long Grift,
Sugar Daddy and
Exquisite Corpse, Stephen Trask’s score achieves its radiant potential.

Director-choreographer Edward Carignan makes the two-act, two-hour musical fit the Garden
Theater like one of David Bowie’s glam-rock gloves.

Amanda Ackers’ bordello-style lighting, Carignan’s colorful costumes and wigs, and Rob Kuhn’s
versatile set and sound design reinforce the flashy-trashy atmosphere of the provocative piece,
which is suggested for mature audiences because of its profanity and sexuality.